1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to demolition equipment systems and, more particularly, to claw tines for demolition equipment.
2. Background Information
The present application refers to demolition equipment, however, this equipment is also referred to as construction equipment, scrap handling equipment and the like. The description of demolition equipment is not intended to be restrictive of the equipment being referenced. In demolition equipment, it has long been known to utilize elongated extension members, referred to herein as claw tines, in a variety of equipment units. For example, there are many different machines that have buckets mounted on their front. A variety of claw tines has been developed for attachment to the buckets to improve the operation of these equipment units. Examples of the wide variety of claw tine attachments for various buckets can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,639,205; 5,590,482; 5,564,885; 5,544,435; 5,472,308; 5,111,602; 4,382,625; 4,519,739; 4,375,345 and 4,285,628. Additionally, the Applicant's earlier invention disclosed a self-contained demolition bucket attachment using claw tines in U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,852. In addition to bucket type equipment, elongated claw tines are utilized opposing each other to form a grapple. Grapples are generally used for gripping and moving the work. Within the context of the present application, grapples are distinguished from the bucket attachments in that the grapples have the tines operating against each other (i.e., opposed) as compared to operating against a bucket.
There have been a wide variety of existing claw tines for demolition equipment units. To date, there has not been sufficient consideration given to how changes in the geometry of the claw tine can effect the operation. For example, if the holding force of a given demolition equipment unit using a claw tine was not sufficient, then the hydraulic piston powering the claw tine was simply increased in size to provide more force. This is not the most efficient way of addressing the problem and the resulting device may be impractical and expensive. Additionally, the existing claw tines have been designed to be associated with a given piece of construction equipment and were not adapted for other uses. Finally, the attachment systems utilized in existing claw tines were not efficient and many required additional machining in order to get the claw tines to fit on an existing bucket or other existing component structure.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned problems of the prior art. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a claw tine for demolition equipment which optimizes the design considerations of the respective geometry of the claw tine. A further object of the present invention is to provide a claw tine which is easily manufactured and attached to existing equipment. A further object of the present invention is to provide a claw tine which is adaptable for use in a variety of distinct demolition equipment units to provide a demolition equipment system.